Darius was still looking at me like I was a bat out of Hell, ready to barbecue his pretty face. My lip twitched up as I tried to hide my amusement.
"Don't worry Darius, I won't be using you as target practice. I'm sure Magda was joking." My eyes slid to the nutty woman, staring at us like she was actually expecting me to shoot balls of fire at him. I pursed my lips.
"Magda, can we please start with something a little less murderous for our first task?" My voice was strained as I imagined me attempting to control powers I didn't understand, effectively turning him into a pile of ash. I was sure he could easily avoid them, being a warrior and all, but I definitely didn't trust myself yet.
She blew out a breath of air, showing me she was disappointed with my request.
I laughed, shaking my head slightly. "You guys are crazy. First of all, I don't know how to create fire out of nowhere. I've always had it just happen."
It was strange seeing the arena brightly lit with no one else in it besides the three of us. The last time I had been here, Kade had extinguished my full-body flames with his embrace and it had been full of training Naurian warriors. I blushed just thinking about it.
Talk about embarrassing.
Magda made a noise of amusement. "Ah, yes, I remember. Your energy was untethered before. Now you have your mate bond to help with that. If I remember correctly, you burst into flames last time because you thought Prince Kadeon was attractive, no?"
I knew my face was beet red. "Okay Magda, let's settle down with the accusations here. He was infuriating me, not distracting me with his otherworldly hotness."
Well, maybe both. I wasn't about to admit it out loud though.
She scoffed, clearly not buying it. "Whatever you want to tell yourself, young one. Now, anger or a certain kind of frustration was what caused the outbursts in energy before. How about we try to channel that again. Think about someone or something that makes so angrier than anything in the world." Magda said.
I knew what that was instantly.
Magda nodded, "Good. I can see the fury in your eyes. Now, I want you to focus on this," She snapped her fingers and a floating blue light appeared high above us, about thirty yards ahead.
"Now aim your fire at the target. Imagine the energy building within you and then being released through your fingertips, direct it with your mind. Come on, get angrier." She urged, moving slightly away from me. Darius was already near the door, refusing to come closer. He was staring at the scene before him with interest in his blue eyes.
I pictured the one face out of everyone on Earth that I hated most and thought of the flames that Magda believed I could conjure.
Kyle's smirking face appeared in my mind as I thought back to the pain he had caused me. I could feel the anger rising within my body, feeling the burning of my skin as it heated up.
I could feel the energy within me flowing, begging to be let out. I breathed deeply, feeling sweat bead on my forehead as I lifted my hand, straining almost painfully as the energy resisted being held in and bent to my will.
Finally, I released it.
Blue flames tore from my palm, heading straight past the target, slamming in to the stones at the far end of the arena. At the impact, a thunderous boom shattered the stunned silence between us, sending both Magda and I flying to our knees. I let out a small scream of surprise as I stared wide-eyed at the now blackened stone in front of me.
Magda was pale as she stared at me in utter silence. She took a deep breath before speaking.
"Well. I haven't seen anything like that in a long while. I think... my darling, we're done for the day. Darius, can you please call the engineers in here? I need to make sure the ceiling isn't going to cave in on us now." Her voice was stern but her eyes were warm as she winked at me.
"Uh..." I all but stuttered, looking between the two of them.
Kade materialized in front of me looking panicked. "What in the name of Aitera was that?" His eyes followed my gaze to the now smoking stones.
He stared for a moment before laughing to himself.
"My god, Emily. Nothing is ever simple with you is it?" He looked at me with playful eyes. "I'd better get a team down here to make sure the stones are still going to be able to mask our powers..." He paused, looking at the sight in front of us before turning back to me with a grin. "...or if we need to do repairs."
He shook his head, "I don't even know if I want to know how you managed this." Despite the possible damage to their arena, he looked to be enjoying this more than I expected.
I snorted. "I think I have anger issues."
He shook his head in amusement before turning to Darius, who was looking quite pale. Probably still imagining himself as the rocks before us.
"I still have a couple of meetings that I need to oversee, can you show Emily around the classrooms that she will be attending?" Kade asked.
Darius nodded in response. "No problem, I would love nothing more than to spend my afternoon with sparky over here." He grinned.
Kade rolled his eyes, turning to me. "Does that sound good? I won't be too long. All unmated males will be in their quarters for the next hour practicing meditation so you will be safe."
"Did you send them to their rooms because I was out in the open?" I raised an eyebrow at him. I wouldn't put it past him to go to the extremes to keep the men away from me during my heat. I wanted to cringe just thinking about it. How embarrassing.
Although... it hadn't been as bad as I was expecting. I still wanted Kade at all times, but it wasn't like Doctor Ama had described, at least not yet. I wasn't in pain or anything. I was cautiously optimistic.
"No. We all agreed since there will be more women joining our ranks eventually that they need to learn to control themselves or this place will turn into a war zone. This is a much more contained environment than being on Nauria. Meditation should help a little." Kade answered, coming closer to me.
I didn't quite believe him, so I rolled my eyes. "Whatever you say." My lips twitched upwards.
Kade's eyes darkened hungrily as he stood over me, gazing at my face. "I can't wait to bend you over my lap later, Princess." He growled lowly, making me shudder beneath him. I blushed immediately, swatting at him.
I knew Darius had heard every word when he snickered quietly to himself. I narrowed my eyes at him threateningly, pointing to the rocks.
"Careful buddy, or that's going to be you next." I scowled are him. I was blushing head to toe.
Kade threw his head back and laughed, a loud jovial sound I hadn't heard much of since meeting him. I couldn't help but smile in return; I found that I loved to see him happy.
Darius raised an eyebrow. "I don't know, based on your aim earlier I don't think that you'd be able to hit me." He winked.
I scoffed. He was probably right.
Kade turned back to me with mirth in his gorgeous eyes. "I will come get you when you are done your tour. I shouldn't be long." He brought his warm lips to mine, giving a sweet kiss. Before he pulled away, he nipped my bottom lip.
"Ow! You wild animal." I glared. But secretly I enjoyed it. He knew it, too if the wicked grin on his face was any indication. With a wicked grin in my direction, he vanished into thin air.
I took a steadying breath and turned back to Magda who had been silent for the whole exchange. "Sorry about the rocks." I said sheepishly.
Magda shook her head. "Do not be sorry, Princess. If anything you should be proud of the strength that you demonstrated today. Your fire was burning so hot it was blue. If you look closely, parts of the rock have melted. I've never heard of a Naurian with blue fire before." Her tone was baffled.
I bit my lip nervously. The last thing I wanted to be was a freak show among the aliens, for Gods sake.
"Kade did say that they think their abilities were enhanced somehow in the serum I was given. Maybe that's why?" I shrugged, still feeling anxious over the possibilities.
"Well, until we find out more about your powers, we will keep it between the four of us. No one needs to know right now. That's probably the best way to protect you from your newfound threat." Her tone was dark and vengeful as she seemed to lose herself in thought.
I was left to assume that she was talking about the Selarians that now wanted me. Probably to be another damn experiment.
There was no way I was going to go through anything like that again, that was for sure. I was glad that Magda seemed to think that me nearly blowing up the arena wasn't all bad. Either way, I felt a little guilty for causing someone else unnecessary work.
Darius came up beside us. "Well, did you want a tour of the lecture rooms you will be attending?" I looked to the Blonde alien beside me and paused reluctantly.
What I really wanted to do was play with these powers I had and discover what other things I was capable of, but I supposed I had caused enough damage for today.
"Yeah, I guess. When will we meet again Magda?" I asked eagerly. Now that I had an idea of how to release my powers, there was a jittery excitement that yearned to do it again.
Suddenly the idea of being able to protect myself and the ones I loved actually seemed like it was achievable. That was of course, if I could learn to control myself.
"We will meet in the evenings just as we did today, same time. Hopefully we won't burn the place down and we can actually get some practice in next time." She winked.
I gave her a pathetic smile in return, still feeling quite embarrassed about the whole thing. I waved as Darius and I left the arena.
I sighed as we turned the corner. "I don't know if I'm ever going to feel like I know what I'm doing. There's just so much I still don't know. About my own body, Nauria, becoming a future Queen, dealing with saving a dying population while protecting Earth at the same time..." I trailed off, feeling the weight on my shoulders. There was something about Darius that made me feel that I could trust him.
Darius looked sideways at me. "You realize that this isn't all up to you, right? You have all of us here to help every step of the way."
I smiled at him, feeling encouraged by his words. It felt nice to have even one more Naurian on my side. I wasn't sure I'd still be feeling the love when it came time to start my classes.
"Thanks Darius. I appreciate it. It's easy to get swept up in my own insecurities sometimes." We had apparently reached our destination as he stopped just outside a set of steel doors. He launched into explanations.
"Since we don't have many students here, there's only two classrooms. Both are what you would consider university level, although the Naurians that attend are of a variety of ages. There are probably about twenty five students split between the two. So, you'll get to know your peers well."
I cringed. Yeah, peers like Kiehiri, Kade's ex.
"Great." I drawled, plastering a smile on my face. Darius raised an eyebrow skeptically.
"Oh, didn't Kade tell you? I'm going to be with you during your classes while he works with the Warriors." Darius said, opening the door and gesturing for me to go through. "So there's less of a chance that you'll become Kiehiri's mortal enemy."
I looked at him in surprise. "Aren't you a warrior too? Don't you need to train?" I asked. "Surely there's more important things for you to do than relearn everything you were already taught."
He shrugged as the lights turned on above us. "I consider being chosen to guard the future Queen of Nauria as a great honour. While you think this is a small task, Kade wouldn't choose anyone he didn't trust to watch over you in his absence. The threat is greater than you seem to think. You will learn more in class, but the Selarians are masters at manipulation and their powers follow that trait closely. You can never get too complacent." His tone was a warning.
I swallowed hard, nodding. One thing was for sure, I definitely needed to learn more than I did.
We now stood in the front of the classroom. While it looked similar to the lecture halls I had seen during my college classes, there were many diagrams that I didn't recognize. There were displays of different rocks, solar systems, and languages that I didn't recognize.
This was going to be a total culture shock. I bit my lip nervously.
A noise in the hallway caused Darius and I to look up. I hadn't even noticed his movement, but he was standing in front of me in seconds, before the threat even appeared.
When it did, I couldn't help but let a breath of relief out. It wasn't a scary Selarian warrior come to kill me. It was a girl, about my age. She was staring at us both unwaveringly.
"Kiehiri." Darius greeted, almost haughtily.
I felt dread pool in my stomach. Of course this devastatingly beautiful woman was the one obsessed with Kade and becoming the Queen. I felt my face harden as I looked at her.
A slow smile worked itself onto her face as she sized me up.
She moved silently through the door towards us, her hips swaying with every step. She had gorgeous hip length flowing white-blonde hair, huge, sparkling eyes and had a body that would have had every single one of Earth's modelling agencies calling, desperate to sign her. She pursed her naturally pouted lips as she studied me.
"Hello, Emily. I have just been dying to meet you." Her musical voice was pleasant even to my ears. She twirled a strand of her soft looking hair between her fingers. She didn't acknowledge Darius at all.
Damn it. My eye nearly twitched at the tone she used. Like she was speaking to a child. She looked at me like a snake that was sizing up its meal... deciding just how much of a threat that I really was.
Well, two could play at that game.
I did my best to smooth my expression into one of calm indifference. "Who are you, exactly?" I asked her, tilting my head slightly in question.
I could see her neutral facial expression slip from her perfect features, revealing how much my words had affected her otherwise creepily calm demeanor. Her lip curled up slightly, looking every bit as offended as I had thought she would be. She moved to a nearby table and leaned against it as she stared at me.
I narrowed my own eyes at her. That's right, bitch. I'm not here to play games.
______
SURPRISE UPDATE! Only four days later ;)
Oh snap! Emily has met Kiehiri!
What do we think of her so far? What do you think is going to happen next?!
Thanks so much for taking the time to read! Please vote & especially comment, it really keeps me going! Please give me a follow to keep up with everything going on with the series :)
Love Kyla